Hot property
E17 may seem an unlikely candidate to be gracing the glossy pages of style magazines, but the area — birthplace of William Morris and home to the ‘greyhound racing stadium of the millennium’ — is blossoming. These days the association between Walthamstow and going to the dogs is, in one sense at least, an unfair one.
At present, the new space-age bus station stands out like a self-conscious teenager amid the jumble of fast-food shops, discount stores and estate agents, but change is afoot. The 450-stall street market, which dates from 1885 (and where some years, apparently, you can see fireeating daredevils breaking world records), is more Leather Lane than Broadway Market. It is in line for some serious smartening-up, though, as is the town centre in general.
One of Walthamstow’s undoubted assets is its residents. The tag ‘lively’ may have a slightly euphemistic twang, but this is a truly vibrant, diverse community that seems to live in relative harmony. The area scored highly with teenagers in a recent survey by Yellow Pages of the best places to live in London (it’s strong on arcades, pizza delivery and DVD hire).
Lively is not to everyone’s taste, though, and nestling unexpectedly in the grey urban sprawl is the Walthamstow Village conservation area. The properties here are 10 per cent more expensive than those in the surrounding area, says Andrew Lesurf of Bairstow Eves. But they are still astoundingly good value for money. The sleepy tangle of narrow streets, historic buildings and period properties clustered around the handsome mediaeval church of St Mary’s is a magnet for refugees from pricier Islington, Finsbury Park and Hackney on the lookout for more space. And the burgeoning café/restaurant scene will appeal to the Fresh and Wildfrequenting, natural fibre-wearing tribe of nearby Stoke Newington. Raymond Swingler, president of the Walthamstow Village Residents’ Association, says that the area is like ‘a typical rural English village of long ago’, and the absence of the nervejangling sirens that normally punctuate the city soundscape bears this out.
For those who still need convincing, E17 is well connected (Walthamstow Central is at the end of the Victoria line as well as being on Wagn’s suburban line to Liverpool Street), the schools are not half bad, and you can pick up a three-bedroom house for as little as £240,000. Naturelovers will appreciate the proximity of leafy Epping Forest and the flock of geese that flies home via Walthamstow at dusk.
Lucy Vickery
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